According to Maggie Luckerath, volunteering time is the perfect way to jump into a new community, like she did when she moved to Malibu full-time in 2010, after “snowbirding” with her husband every winter since 2000.
Luckerath, who grew up in Pennsylvania and lived in New Jersey for most of her life before retiring to Malibu, says involvement in many community organizations, notably the Rotary Club and Malibu Playhouse, have made her feel right at home in Malibu, just five years after she became a resident.
“I feel I’ve been here all my life,” Luckerath says, “I just feel so connected to the community and to so many people here.”
While most people are satisfied with one charitable cause or organization, Luckerath seems to collect them, offering a hand wherever she sees help is needed, including stepping in to help the Bonewitz family last year when parents Kim and Michael adopted five children, bringing a total of eight kids into their home following the death of their friend, Marie Jordanou.
“I help them however I can, I cook meals for them,” Luckerath said, “they’re really like family to us.”
Kim Bonewitz agrees, writing in to The Malibu Times to nominate Luckerath for a 2014 Dolphin Award.
“Maggie is constantly cooking meals for our large family, using her own retirement funds. Maggie single handed collects all kinds of items that are extremely helpful to our family and all with the love and dignity of a mother,” Bonewitz writes.
Despite the warnings of friends who think she’s drawn too thin, Luckerath’s passion for civic involvement isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
“My friends said, ‘Maggie, you need to slow down. You do too much!’” Luckerath says.
“When I bought the house in Malibu West, I started out running and I haven’t slowed down yet,” Luckerath adds.
Luckerath’s friends are also the ones who nominated her for this award.
“Maggie has a big heart, always thinking of others and often putting the needs of those who she helps ahead of her own needs,” Robert Frank writes in a letter he sent to The Malibu Times when he nominated Luckerath for her award. The letter details the personal help Luckerath gave Frank when he was struggling looking for a job.
Some of the many events Luckerath has had a hand in are youth programs for the Malibu Rotary Club, such as the youth football program and the youth surf program in 2014. She also volunteers at the front of house for the Malibu Playhouse on Friday nights.
The benefits, Luckerath says, far outweigh any trouble she has gone through for her friends and neighbors.
“To me,” she adds, “I think giving is receiving. The more I give, the more I receive.”
In the end, Luckerath says the Rotary Club motto sums up her feelings about her work in Malibu throughout the years.
“I totally believe in service above self,” Luckerath says.